KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Laurie Anderson Day (February 23, 1985), 1 of
Analog Audio
Event Type
Interview and MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
AM.1985.02.23.APart
1 ofDates
1985-02-23 | broadcast| 1985-02-23 | created
Description
On February 23, 1985, KPFA, as part of a fund raising drive, dedicated a whole day’s programing to the work of Laurie Anderson. Charles Amirkhanian and Russ Jennings survey the recording career of composer/performance artist Laurie Anderson, which as of the time of this recording had spanned a decade. Included are excerpts from her private and commercial recordings, live performances of solo concerts and orchestral works, as well as her appearance in San Francisco as part of the Exploratorium’s Speaking On Music series. In this, the opening hour of what was to be almost 14 hours of continuous programing, excerpts from Anderson album, “Mister Heartbreak” is heard as well as a live telephone interview in which Anderson talks about being nominated for a Grammy for her song “Gravity’s Angel” and meeting Tina Turner during a live broadcasting Germany. Anderson also discusses some of her current projects and how the recent diversification in pop culture, which she compares to an evolving slime mold, has allowed her own avant-garde work to find a mainstream audience. However she does not consider herself a crossover artist in the style of a Michael Jackson and still relies on live performances to maintain contact with her audience. This segment concludes with an early version of Anderson’s composition “If You Can't Talk About It, Point To It,” from a tape which she sent to Amirkhanian in 1976 or 77.Genres
New musicPopular music
Musical Selections
Excellent Birds [excerpt, talked over] (ca. 1984) (0:58) / Laurie Anderson & Peter Gabriel -- Kokoku [excerpt] (ca. 1984) (4:13) / Laurie Anderson -- Sharkey's Day [excerpt] (ca. 1984 (3:37) / Laurie Anderson -- Gravity's Angel [excerpt, talked over] (ca. 1984) (4:28) / Laurie Anderson -- Excellent Birds (ca. 1984) (3:09) / Laurie Anderson & Peter Gabriel --If You Can't Talk About It, Point To It: For Screamin’ Jay Hawkins & Ludwig Wittgenstein (ca. 1976) (1:32) / Laurie Anderson --Performers
Laurie Anderson, violin, synthesizers, vocals, etc... (all)Peter Gabriel, vocals and synthesizer (Excellent)
Anton Fier, percussion (Kokoku ; Sharkey's Day)
Bill Laswell, bass (Kokoku ; Sharkey's Day ; Gravity's)
Adrian Belew, guitar (Sharkey's Day ; Gravity's)
David Van Tieghem, percussion (Gravity's)
Subjects
New musicPopular music
Rock music
Related places
Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Amirkhanian, CharlesJennings, Russ
Anderson, Laurie, 1947-
Gabriel, Peter, 1950-
Fier, Anton
Laswell, Bill
Belew, Adrian, 1949-
Van Tieghem, David